December 4, 2008

We are so very excited to announce that we have just partnered up with a manufacturer of safe children’s furniture. Ecotots designs & manufactures a high quality, full line of environmentally friendly, real wood modern furniture & furnishings for kids which assemble quickly & easily without the use of tools or hardware. Everything is made from renewable FSC Certified Smart Wood® & is available in a variety of eco friendly UV finishes.

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Please take a look at the beautiful selection of furniture that you might mistake for European imports. Ecotots is based in Indiana & all their products are made right here in the USA! We like their small, green footprint & think that you will, too.

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The fact that Ecotots makes their furniture without the use of formaldehyde is especially agreeable to us, as there is good reason to believe that it is extremely dangerous to our health & the health of the planet. Formaldehyde is used in many products including cosmetics, paper, wood, furniture, cigarette smoke, industrial fertilizers, dyes, glues/adhesives, permanent press fabrics & embalming fluid.

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Formaldehyde is a colorless gas compound (HCHO) recognized as a carcinogen, meaning it causes cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), when formaldehyde is present in the air at levels exceeding 0.1ppm, some individuals may experience health effects such as watery eyes, burning sensations of the eyes, nose & throat, coughing, wheezing, nausea and skin irritations. Some people are very sensitive to formaldehyde, while others have no reaction to the same level of exposure.

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Several NCI studies have found that anatomists & embalmers (professionals with potential exposure to formaldehyde), are at an increased risk for leukemia & brain cancer compared with the general public.

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Some studies of industrial workers have suggested that formaldehyde exposure is associated with nasal cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer and possibly with leukemia. In 1995, the International Agency for Research of Cancer (IARC) concluded that formaldehyde is a probable human carcinogen. However, in a reevaluation of existing data in June 2004, the International Agency for Research of Cancer reclassified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen.